Ya gotta eat, right? I don’t know about you, but nothing stirs my hunger quite like expending nearly zero calories as I hurtle down the highway on the way from my current A to a distant B. And while ducking onto an exit ramp to enjoy a leisurely meal would be nice, I’m generally trying to cut down the total road trip time, so if the tummy fill-ups can be tied into fuel-tank fill-ups (or battery charge sessions), all the better. But what to eat?
As you are no doubt aware, gas station fare is highly variable. At the low end of the spectrum, there are the “really, we’re just a gas station” stops that offer a sole wire rack loaded with bagged salty and sweet snacks of the Cheeto-Dorito-Pringles-Yodel-Ding Dong/Ring Ding families and their ilk, which are better than nothing. But do stay away from the flavor-dusted consumables, which, as seen in the top graphic, tend to be messy for car consumption unless you’ve got moist towelettes at the ready.
At the high end of the gas station food pyramid, you’ve got your Quick Trips and RaceTracs and the like, which offer delicacies of the hot-roller variety and possibly pizza by the slice and breakfast sandwiches if you’re early enough.
At the very pinnacle, there’s Bucc-Ee’s, the truck stop/super-sized gas station that doubles as a take-out restaurant, gift shop, car wash (depending on location), candy store, and source for all manner of outdoorsy accouterment. The real attraction, though, is the brisket, as Mercedes will tell you:
Also not to be missed at Bucc-Ee’s: the best restrooms on the road. If you can hold it until you reach the home of Beaver Nuggets, you’ll be glad you did.
While unquestionably delicious, the brisket sandwich does leave much to be desired when it comes to convenient eating while behind the wheel. Exactly how important on-the-go convenience is to your best and worst road snack choices is entirely up to you; I’m not setting any rules here. Interpret today’s Autopian Asks as you like:
What Are The Best And Worst Gas Station Snacks?
Top graphic images: Doritos; DepositPhotos.com
The best? Nuts. Rip a corner off the bag and tip them into your mouth. No muss, no fuss, no crumbs. Skip the trail mix with M&Ms because if anything escapes your maw it will be an M&M and it will melt itself into your upholstery/carpet. The worst is probably crunchy granola bars, which will absolutely shatter into a million pieces when you bite into one. You’ll be finding crumbs when you’re cleaning out the car 10 years later.
Honey roast cashews if you can find em.
The “Tornado” line of things (think like taquitos, they live next to the roller dogs, and are either stuffed with cheese or pizza stuff).
Best: something from the taco truck in the parking lot – almost seems to be a requirement in my area
Worst: Hostess powdered mini donuts – that powder gets everywhere
Since we finally just got them here in Southwest Ohio I’m going to say a Wawa Hoagie. Frank Reynolds was right saying they have the supreme sandwich over any other gas station
Danny DeVito advertises for Jersey Mike’s now
True, Its a sub above. Never been much of a Jersey Mikes fan though. I am just waiting to go into a Wawa and find some sweet lady named Gail.
I just had my first Jersey Mike’s the other day and was really disappointed. Too expensive by what feels like 50%. I’ll take a Subway and apply the savings to a nicer meal at my destination.
In Mexico is just a little bit different, you rely more on the street vendors than chains brands, my personal favorite are “ice crushed” made with homemade vanilla essence from the north of Veracruz or home made coconut ice cream from Acapulco
When I was in Mexico last year we grabbed road trip snacks at the OXO.
Beef jerky and Chex Mix for me.
While I absolutely love chocolate, having anything with it in the car on hot days is a no-no, but bite sized cookies of any other variety are great.
Haven’t been to a Buc-Ees, as they’re not really a thing around here. There is something similar outside Pontiac, IL that I bought a Electrolytey-Sugary Sports Drink from once, damned if I can remember what it’s called.
The Beck’s chain around here has very good fried chicken. Will also second Casey’s pizza. For a bathroom break, a go-to as a “thanks” for me is usually a candy bar, as it’s easy to take with and munch on later.
The UK’s pre-packaged sandwiches are near the top for me, particularly a ploughman’s for a nice thick slice of cheese.
Haha, I’ve eaten many a Pret A Manger sandwich while in England.
For the best, I nominate the chocolate covered peanut butter crispy bar at Kwik Trips and/or Circle Ks.
They look like this:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61NErHPBq+L._SL1000_.jpg
The worst? Either any pre-packaged egg-salad sandwich or any pre-packaged pickled egg in a plastic bag. They are both equally terrible.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQnMmM3nBrPG6TNk9aYbieHS8oJmFxDC0X8fw&s
Mercedes is right. The best snack is whatever fraction of a Buc-ee’s brisket sandwich you call a snack. I happen to prefer brisket to pulled pork, but if pork is what pulls you, that’s fine.
There’s also the 3-meat option.
As also right that Casey’s has good pizza.
Especially breakfast pizza.
If you open up a pickle in my car you will get kicked out of the door onto the interstate shoulder.
Toss them out the window Uncle-Phil style, replete with flailing.
Agreed. If I had 3 wishes the first would be for no pickles. The second wish would be to make sure there are no pickles. Then I’d get creative for myself.
I don’t want a pickle. I just want to ride my motorsickle.
There’s a Buc-Ee’s just 20 minutes from our house so we head over for snacks every so often. The brisket ain’t bad but there’s a lot more in there that’s just as good: banana pudding, a dozen different flavors of fudge, more flavors of jerky than I can keep track of, a bajillion different options for chocolate covered nuts, brittle, pickled everything you can image, wraps and burritos and sandwiches and of course the beaver nuggets.
My partner loves the banana pudding. We got some at the Denton Buc-ee’s while refueling on the way home. He got directly into the car with a full container of the pudding. I stepped around to the other side of the car to pull the gas nozzle out and get my receipt from the pump, and when I got back into the car, he was handing me an empty container of the pudding. Couldn’t have been more than 30 seconds.
I mean, I’m not saying it’s better than my great-aunt Myrtle’s secret banana pudding recipe that she took to her grave but it is much better than pudding sold at a gas station has any right to be.
I wouldn’t know. I didn’t get any. Greedy bastard scarfed it down 😛
LOL
On a 5000 mile lap of mid America, we stopped at a Buc-Ees in Amarillo and got a pulled pork and a brisket. Both good and a bit messy and hard to keep the dog away from. Had lunch at Buc-Ees in Birmingham and went for the sorta Philly Cheesesteak. Looked good on my shirt and tasted great.
(Fireproof suit on)
Buc-ee’s is overrated.
Come at me.
Fixed it for ya 😉 Seriously, it does trigger my claustrophobia trying to walk through one.
That’s a good chunk of why I avoid them. They’re packed with people and just so. Much. Crap. Snacks? Yup. Novelty t-shirts? Tons. A deer feeder? Right over there.
But they do have the cleanest bathrooms so I put up with them. Also, their kitschy country knickknacks section is a great source when Christmas shopping for the redneck side of the family.
This is true. Especially the redneck part. Need a last-minute Mud Pie platter or Dolly Parton shirt? They’ve got it all.
or the “secede” swag in the Texas locations.
As an Oklahoma resident, I wish they would. Oklahoma, too, so I could have an excuse to move.
The secede rhetoric has been a little quieter the past few years. I think it’s because we don’t want to be stuck with Cruz and Abbott.
Eh, the 2 I went to on my road trip through TN/VA were not any cleaner than my favorite gas station, just larger and much louder.
I’m always curious if Buc-Ee’s outside of TX live up to the reputation. The ones here are cleaner than my own at home.
They were clean don’t get me wrong, just not the spotless sanctuary that some people portray them as. I have a rough ranking of gas station restrooms and it’s still A-tier.
The biggest issue I had wand standing outside with the puppy while Herself hobbled to the restroom. She had to do the same for me, so there was that.
It turns a quick 10 minute stop for urine explosion and gasoline into an ordeal, takes longer than that just to find an empty pump, not to mention trying to weave your way through crowds of people with zero spacial awareness, just shuffling around in a daze
You know the kind of person who stops dead in their tracks after taking just one step into a supermarket? Those people all congregate at Buc-ees when they’re not grocery shopping
You’ve got a point about how much time it takes. We drive to FL at least once a year and tried stopping at the Buc-Ee’s in AL when it opened. That was…an absolute nightmare. The things you mention above, finding a pump and trying to get through to the bathroom was a little frustrating but honestly that wasn’t the worst part. After we grabbed our snacks and headed back to the car the real pain bit us in the ass. It took us 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot and back onto the freeway. And this was with a cop and an employee trying to direct traffic in the parking lot.
Every trip after that we’ve just skipped that Buc-Ee’s.
I’ve stopped at the one in Virginia twice, and will never go again, it just adds too much time to a simple stop, the traffic getting in and out is pretty much the same deal there, it makes the Schuylkill Expressway look quick and efficient
The Buc-ees just outside Luling does perform the public service of making it real easy to get in and out of the Love’s that’s just across the freeway.
Most of the ones I’ve visited in TX have at least 3-5 exits and aren’t hard at all to get out of. The one in AL was just a nightmare though.
I went to my first one last summer, it was just Sheetz but with more junk
Also there was some kind of truck night at the time and every brodozer in the DFW metroplex was there
Weird. I drive across the country all the time and they’re always empty. I really don’t understand how they justify so many pumps.
There is a random Shell station off of i-90 in the town of Snoqualmie, WA where I walked in once and saw the dude behind the counter was hand cutting and breading chicken tenders and jo-jos to deep fry! Best gas station food I’ve had. Seems like a family owned and run kinda place.
For typical gas station food when I was younger my road trip go-to was a bag of Chili Cheese Fritos and a bottle of Dr. Pepper. Or some of those powdered gem donuts, which are idiotic to eat in the car and barely even taste like real donuts yet somehow I love them. Or those weird fruit pie turnover things in the paper sleeve I find strangely good.
I stay lean when I’m solo road tripping. Mixed nuts, beef jerky, and coffee/water.
All easily handled and consumed when hurtling down the highway several orders of magnitude quicker than mother nature could’ve possibly prepared us for.
Wost snack? Probably a rack of ribs or some Crab legs. Anyone make a 12V butter warmer?
Worst snack? Tacos. This is why if I stop at Taco Bell I get something contained, not open like the taco.
In my youth I tried to eat some Taco Bell tacos in the car ONCE. Never again.
I both can and have eaten tacos on the move. I don’t recommend it, but it can be done.
Soft tacos only, scrape excess lettuce off the top, grab from above and use your pinky to fold in the loose end to contain. No taco sauce.
Hard shell. Hold everything together using the wrapper, instead of raw-dogging it like some heathen.
Agreed. I tend to pack my own stuff beforehand, so if I do take a break, I can stop at a rest stop, sit outside, and consume something I know is decent.
HyVee gas stations started selling these jalepeno bacon cream cheese wontons. Man they are pretty good, but if fresh they present a potential time bomb. Bight into one because they seem easily handled, but then an eruption of hot cream cheese can occur and cause all sorts of shenanigans depending on wear it lands and of course how hot it is.
I recognise all these words individually, but together they are confusing.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRjVQDZP1VfhIQY81GEN2P7BL8B5OJ1a4Etew&s
Basically a Crab Rangoon with Jalepeno’s and Bacon instead of fake crab. Also they never look as good as that picture, but that is marketing for you.
I’m part of the ~20% of the population where coffee is a violent laxative, so none of that for me, otherwise great list.
I highly recommend the Unsweetened Yerba Mate with Lemon that comes in a glass bottle, if you can’t have coffee it’s the next best thing liquid caffeine wise. Naturally no sugar.
I’ve yet to see it at a gas station though.
The Pure Leaf unsweetened tea is pretty dang good and at basically every gas station.
To replace alcohol, I’ve found a flavour of carbonated water I like, so I can always pack some of those.
The occasional energy drink may find me on a road trip as well, depending on coffee availability.
Best: 7-Eleven Cheeseburger Bite covered in nacho cheese sauce.
Worst: 7-Eleven Cheeseburger Bite covered in nacho cheese sauce.
Lemme guess… it’s the best while you’re eating it. But then a while later when you have to hit the bathroom, it becomes the worst… right?
Cornish pasties are good, they were designed to be eaten with one hand,also scotch eggs.
Scotch eggs are the original road trip food, they were invented by Fortnum & Mason (grocers to the Royal Household) for people travelling by coach and horse from London to Scotland. Coaching companies were annoyed by eggshell bits left on the floor. The solution? encase a soft boiled egg in sausage meat, roll the thing in bredcrumbs and fry it. No messy egg peeling and a delicious snack.
The quality of both pasties and eggs can vary widely!
pasties are fantastic but hard to find in the US
I’ve seen pasties in gas stations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Northern Wisconsin.
My favorite are the pretzels stuffed with peanut butter. Clean, delicious, and filling.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Peanut-Butter-Filled-Pretzel-24-oz-Resealable-and-Recyclable-Container/162020760?classType=VARIANT&athbdg=L1300
Most frequently eaten/close to home; Cumberland Farms’ raspberry bismarck donut.
Best: Wawa hot sandwiches, I’ll eat at least one any time I’m in the mid-Atlantic states or Florida.
Wawa has a pretty good deli counter. I used to buy a 12″ sub there every morning and have half for breakfast and the other half for lunch.
They have an amazing Thanksgiving sub sandwich.
Ad campaign: “Stop by Cumberland Farms and sink a bismarck!”
Combos, the answer is always Combos. Notice they don’t make the bag resealable because who are you kidding, you’re not stopping until they’re gone.
My guilty road trip snack of choice. I just choose the basic cheddar cheese* filled pretzel variety.
*I’m not sure what is inside these actually qualifies as cheese but I’m 90% preservatives anyway.
Cheddar Cheese Cracker! The pretzels are too salty.
I posted similar before I saw your post, but the ones with peanut butter.
Beef jerky, specifically Old Trapper Hot & Spicy.
When I was back out west, QuickTrip pizza ain’t so bad.
My go to road trip snack has always been beef jerky and gatorade (zero if they have it)
Beef Jerky and Slurpees/Icees, I will die on this hill
Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews, give you a quick and useful energy boost and tamp down hunger for a few more hours, and don’t make a mess like Rollos often do
Anyone else enjoy the service at Celina 52 Truck Stop?
I have fond memories of going there with my dad and getting my pictures taken with Piss Jug Man. It warms my heart to be able to go there with my daughter and still get her pictures taken with Piss Jug Man.
We proudly hang the giant picture of our kids standing with Piss Jugman from the last family outing. It displaced the picture of the family standing in front of Cinderella’s Castle on Main Street at the Magic Kingdom.
Priorities!
Don’t do an image search for piss jug man if you’re at work
I probably should have put that disclaimer in my post lol
I do enjoy their social media presence 🙂